Catalogue: General History

One manuscript, MS P 29, contains three short items written in the margins, all anonymous, concerned with chronologies of rulers and major religious figures.

They are contained in a manuscript that has 35 short Persian treatises written in the margins, surrounding the main Persian text in the center of each page which is a copy of the Persian version of Kitāb ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) written in the 13th century by Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī.

The three items relating to historical topics will be described briefly individually, followed by the physical description of MS P 29.

Khulāṣah-i tawārīkh (MS P 29, marginal item 24)

(The Explanation of Chronologies)

خلاصه تواريخ

Anonymous

This Persian anonymous essay discusses the times at which certain early figures lived, including Daniel, ‘Isá [Jesus], and the two Orthodox Caliphs ‘Uthman and ‘Alī.

Physical Description

The manuscript containing these two items is undated but elsewhere signed by the scribe, Sayyid Ḥusayn Yazdī. There is a portrait of a scribe immediately below the colophon giving the scribe's name (fol. 173a). The volume must have been completed before 1546/953, when an owner's stamp for one ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī was placed in the volume. It appears to have been copied in India.

The text is written in the same hand as the main text in the volume. The marginal text is written in a small, compact, professional, and elegant ta‘liq tending toward naskh script in black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. There are catchwords for the central text, which is enclosed in frames of blue, red, gilt, and black lines. The marginal text is written in short diagonal lines between the frame enclosing the central text and a larger frame of blue, gilt, and black lines. The text area in the margins has also been frame-ruled.

The glossy yellow-brown paper is moderately thin with only laid lines visible. There is some water damage near the edges, and the edges have been trimmed from their original size. Fols. 1 and 173 have been reinforced.

Binding

The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with dark-brown leather. On the covers there are gold-tooled frames filled with acanthus leaves, with flowers or a star in the center and corners. The spine has gold-stamped flowers and a border. The binding is not original. There are modern pastedowns and endpapers.

Provenance

There is an owner's stamp dated 1546/953 with the name ‘Imād al-Dīn Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Limūnī (fol. 173a).

The volume was purchased from R. Thomas Heller, New York, on 3 August 1949. No further information is available on the provenance.